THE Federal Government of Nigeria has suspended the airline whose jet was used to convey Nigerian artist, Naira Marley to a concert in Abuja on Friday.
Sirika Hadi, Minister for Aviation confirmed the suspension of Execujet Services during the presidential task force briefing on COVID-19 on Monday.
He said operations of the flight company have been suspended indefinitely, and will also be fined.
Sirika disclosed that the flight was approved for a different purpose which was to convey a judge, Justice Adefope Okoj to Abuja and back to Lagos on official assignment.
“The operation is a clear violation of our approvals which we take seriously, it seems this is becoming a norm, it’s the second time,” the Minister said.
“Execujet services are hereby suspended indefinitely, we’ll also fine them maximally according to the law,” he announced.
According to him, the Captain of the flight will also be sanctioned for giving wrong information to the Control Tower.
“It seems also that the people are not tired trying our resolve,” Sirika said, adding ” governance is a serious matter…going forward, we will put stricter mechanism in place to prevent this from happening again.”
It will be recalled that Federal Capital Territory Administration sealed off Jabi Lake Mall on Sunday for two weeks over Naira Marley’s concert which violated the government’s ban on public gathering.
When The ICIR reached out to the official number on Execujet Services website for comment, the official of the airline who answered the call declined comment because he was not authorised to talk concerning the suspension of the aviation company.
Abeeb Alawiye formerly works with The ICIR as a Reporter/Social Media officer. Now work as a Senior Journalist with BBC News Yoruba. You can shoot him an email via [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @habsonfloww